China Current Account

China recorded a current account surplus of $180.7 billion in the final quarter of 2024, the largest on record compared to $56.2 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year and $148 billion in Q3, according to a first estimate. The surplus in the goods account widened sharply to $249.6 billion from the $153.6 billion in the prior year, as the slowdown in China’s consumption and sharp expansion in capacity of goods production drove manufacturers to rely on foreign consumers. As a result, exports surged by 11% to $936.4 billion, while imports eased by 0.4% to $686.8 billion. In the meantime, the services gap narrowed to $47.3 billion from $61 billion, and the primary income account deficit narrowed to $26.3 billion from $41.8 billion. In turn, the secondary income account was loosely stable at $4.6 billion.